President Buhari, some venerate and others vilify your person, but
there is this seeming unanimous reference to you as baba. Of course,
people need not to be linguists to know that “baba” is a Yoruba word
that loosely translates into “father” (or “daddy” in our more localised
parlance). You joined the rather long list of past leaders that were
accorded this prestigious title that demands a lot of fatherliness from
even retired soldiers, obviously to remind you that the battered
child named Nigeria urgently needs the firm but lovely strokes of a
father. I suspect a lot of people basked, in their childhood days, the
euphoria that greets the return of a mother from the market or that of
a father from a trip especially an obodo oyibo (foreign) trip. Maybe
this partly explains the mix of euphoria and scepticism in the land
that greeted your return from the working visit to China.
Like hungry children eagerly awaiting their father’s return, we sat in
front of our various information outlets to hear the good news of your
return. Some rejoiced, others simply didn’t find enough reason to do
same. Out came Garba Shehu, your articulate Senior Special Assistant on
Media and Publicity, announcing the content of the goody bag you
brought for us, all the way from China. Sealed infrastructure deals to
the tune of over $6 Billion. That’s fantastic! The deals listed were
such that would positively impact key sectors of the economy including
power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.
Baba, we have seen similar agreements in times past, we just hope that
these ones would not exist only on paper like others. Seeing the agreed
$1 billion that will be invested in the development of a greenfield
expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos reminds us of a deal with this same
China to build three greenfield refineries in Lagos, Kogi and Bayelsa
that was signed six years ago. The sealed deal never came to fruition,
when you go to those fields today, you will agree with Simon Kolawole
that those fields are still green. Of course baba, you need not dub this
particular deal bluefield, brownfield or even whitefield to suggest
to us that things have changed, it’s just that that greenfield there
evokes some memories, and they are not good ones. “History will not be
repeated”, “things have changed”, “it is no longer business as usual”
your people will tell us as they quickly draw out comparisons between
sixteen years and eleven months. We hope so.
China, Oh Peoples’ Republic of China. Baba, thank goodness you know
them to be very frugal business people who will do anything to reap
maximum benefits from any deal they go into. You vividly understand the
risks the deals you struck with China exposed us to; from of our
markets being flooded with substandard “Chineese” products to our
labour market being flooded with their expatriates. If it is this
China you know, except if they have “changed”, they will attempt to
export all the manpower needed for these projects. You are well aware
of their infamous attribute of subjecting their employees to terrible
working conditions. Wait a minute! Thank God you finished that report
on China’s currency manipulation for economic purposes before you
agreed a currency swap deal with them. Baba, you knew that the best
thing to do is not to entirely avoid the Chinese and their gifts. You
did not even attempt to “change” them because you knew it will be
futile, you simply created backdoor clauses to those deals to slap them
back into shape should they attempt to misbehave and devised
strategies to technically defeat them should they go overboard.
Sai baba, despite your blunt refusal of loan offers, you came back with
a lot of goodies including the currency swap deal the Central Bank of
Nigeria agreed in principle to enter into with People’s Bank of China.
This deal, when effected will see China provide Nigeria a certain
amount of Yuan for a definite period, at an agreed interest and
exchange rates. The Central Bank will then formally allocate it to
Commercial Banks and informally to Yuan vendors (black market) who will
in turn make similar provisions to businessmen who can then clear
their balance of trade with China in Yuan. Baba before you returned with
this good news, the usual thing is that Nigerian businessmen who
intend to transact with China will have to scramble for the US Dollar,
meet their trade obligations with the dollar, and China then convert
these Dollars to their local currency. In doing this, conversion,
handling and other ancillary costs are incurred and there is no telling
who bears these costs. When the swap deal gets implemented, we can
directly convert our Naira to Yuan and eliminate the activity of the
middleman – Dollar. Our trade volume with China is currently at about
$14 billion per annum. This move will reduce the demand on the Dollar
by 14 billion and ease off the pressure on Naira. Nice one!
Moreover, this deal has the potential of making Nigeria China’s
clearing house for the whole of West Africa. Considering China’s trade
volume with the region, this deal is sure a plus to our staggering
economy. But all is not well yet baba especially when we look at your
Government’s foreign exchange policy. Your Government under this same
policy will attempt to “prioritise” Yuan the same way it does with
dollar. This implies that she will decide who she will give her
hard–earned Yuan to and who they will not give it to, apparently in an
attempt to ensure that we don’t buy “toothpicks” with the money.
Baba, your import substitution policy is very apt and it should
subsist, but the tool you have continued to use to sustain this policy
is not the best. World over, the preeminent tool Governments use to
regulate importation is taxation. Baba, you may have a need to be
reminded that import duties (and waivers) are used to either discourage
or encourage importation. Given, it is easier to control importation by
placing restrictions on access to foreign exchange than the usage of
tax administration which requires a great deal of tactfulness but you
have used this lazy man’s approach and we have seen what it got us into.
This again reminds us that quick fixes have grave consequences. Baba,
we know that you are in a haste to change Nigeria but quick fixes will
change us in a manner that you yourself will find detestable.
Maybe you have not thought of it this way but what your Government is
doing with foreign exchange is simply subsidizing it. Baba, your
Government knows the real value of the Naira and the rate at which it is
supposed to exchange with other currencies but she deliberately
ignores in defiance. There is no need here to educate you on the biting
effects this has on our economy but before you apportion the blame to
the last sixteen years, let me remind you that you can do things
differently now than you did in the last nine months. If you do things
differently, you will definitely get a different result. Please, allow
the naira to exchange at its real value (or something close to that) as
you continue to work tirelessly to bring back its lost glory.
Baba if you allow your hard earned Yuan to be handled the way the
dollar is presently handled, then you have on your own volition
mismanaged that goody bag from China and messed up your own frantic
efforts to change our situation. Maybe I should be bold to tell you that
the best way to change Nigeria is to change yourself. There are now
several definitions of the change you propagate but we know the one you
intend to bring about. Like Omojuwa rightly told you, intentions alone
cannot fry plantain. We need to see this change and we need to see it
now! Baba, welcome back from China.
Chima, a civil rights activist writes in from Nnewi, Anambra State via: chimachris2@gmail.com
